Ron Paul's forces quietly plot GOP convention revolt against McCain  —  Virtually all the nation's political attention in recent weeks has focused on the compelling state-by-state presidential nomination struggle between two Democrats and the potential for party-splitting strife over there.

President Apostate?  —  BARACK OBAMA has emerged as a classic example of charismatic leadership — a figure upon whom others project their own hopes and desires.  The resulting emotional intensity adds greatly to the more conventional strengths of the well-organized Obama campaign …

Bush May Be as Harmful to McCain as Wright Is to Obama  —  One-third of likely voters say they are less likely to vote for McCain because of Bush  —  PRINCETON, NJ — George W. Bush may do as much damage to John McCain's chances of being elected as Jeremiah Wright does to Barack Obama's …

Obama on Zionism and Hamas  —  The Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef did Barack Obama no favor recently when he said: “We like Mr. Obama and we hope that he will win the election.”  John McCain jumped on this statement, calling it a “legitimate point of discussion,” and tied it to Obama's putative softness on Iran …

Poll Predicts 36-Point Clinton Landslide in W. Virginia  —  Voters Say Clinton's Persistence Will Not Hurt the Democratic Party  —  Although Barack Obama is the likely Democratic nominee, West Virginia Democratic voters are marching to a different drummer, as Hillary Clinton leads …

Obama's Inability to Hire Good Help Rears Its Head ... Again  —  We started covering Sen. Barack Obama's inability to hire good staffers in June 2007, when he blamed staffers for some opposition research trying to link Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, to outsourcing in India …

Blast from the past: Video: Bill O'Reilly Gone Wild: Drops F-Bombs on the set.  —  This is too much.  Bill O'Reilly used to work for ‘Inside Edition’ before he had his FOX show.  This is a behind-the-scenes look at BillO losing it—yelling at the people working on the set and cursing his head off.

Bush Hits New Low as ‘Wrong Track’ Rises  —  Eighty-Two Percent of Americans Say the Country's Seriously Off on the Wrong Track  —  Public disgruntlement neared a record high and President Bush slipped to his career low in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Source: Huckabee Tops McCain's Veep List  —  Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and defeated contender for the GOP presidential nomination, is currently at the top of John McCain's short list for a running mate.  At least that's the word from a top McCain fundraiser …

SCSU student leaves training at Technical High School  —  A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog.  —  The school district calls it a misunderstanding …

McCain, the Cap-and-Trader  —  As good as John McCain's pro-growth, supply-side tax plan is, his cap-and-trade strategy unveiled this morning is very hard for conservatives to swallow.  The whole cap-and-trade experience in Europe and elsewhere reveals that this is a huge government command …

An “October surprise” to help Obama?  —  Writing in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, Gabriel Schoenfeld, a senior editor at the seminal neoconservative journal Commentary, speculated about the possibility of an “October surprise” engineered by a rogue nation, terrorists or Iraqi insurgents …

The candidates and the calendar  —  Here's a budding storyline you shouldn't buy: Hillary could have won this race, if only she'd cracked the code earlier on how to stop Obama.  It's an appealing notion, but one that ignores the force that's driven her transformation: The calendar.

Could Obama Be Another Dukakis?  —  It is a thought that sends shivers down the backs of Democrats, a name that brings to mind memories of an election lost that might have been won, against a war hero once referred to in headlines as a “wimp” who won not so much by his own strengths …